ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned escalating human rights violations targeting the Rohingya Muslim minority during a phone call with Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Turkish presidential sources said.
Erdogan told the Myanmarese leader that violence against Rohingyas was of deep concern to the Muslim world, and will send his foreign minister to neighboring Bangladesh to discuss the fighting.
Erdogan, who has said that the violence against Rohingya Muslims constitutes genocide, told Suu Kyi that it was a violation of human rights, the sources said.
In the phone call with Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner of Myanmar’s junta, Erdogan also discussed potential solutions to the fighting and means to deliver humanitarian aid to the region.
The latest violence, which began last October when a small Rohingya militant group ambushed border posts, is the worst Rakhine has witnessed in years, with Erdogan last week accusing Myanmar of “genocide” against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Erdogan has stepped up diplomacy and spoke on the phone with Muslim leaders during the Eid Al-Adha festival, seeking ways to solve the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. He also spoke with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will visit Bangladesh on Wednesday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Suu Kyi has come under fire over her perceived unwillingness to speak out against the treatment of the Rohingya or chastise the military.
Erdogan said Turkey “condemns terror and operations against innocent civilians,” adding that the developments in Myanmar had turned into a “serious humanitarian crisis which caused worry and resentment.”
The Turkish leader had previously said he would bring up the issue at the next UN General Assembly in New York later this month.
Guterres on Friday said he was “deeply concerned” by the situation in Myanmar and called for “restraint and calm to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will travel to Bangladesh on Wednesday evening and hold meetings on Thursday, the Turkish sources said.
In call to Suu Kyi, Erdogan slams rising human rights violations repression
In call to Suu Kyi, Erdogan slams rising human rights violations repression
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US launches new retaliatory strikes against Daesh in Syria after deadly ambush
- CENTCOM said operation ordered by President Donald Trump
- Launched in response to the deadly Dec. 13 Daesh attack in Palmyra
WASHINGTON: The US has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Daesh in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the US alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to US Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Daesh targets across Syria.
Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly Daesh attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” US Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the military leader of Daesh’s operations in the Levant.
The US military said Saturday’s strikes were carried out alongside partner forces without specifying which forces had taken part.
The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had Daesh infrastructure and weapons.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the US’s main partner in the fight against Daesh in Syria, but since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been coordinating with the central government in Damascus.
Syria recently joined the global coalition against Daesh.
